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Two of Basketball Queensland’s National Referee Development Program (NRDP) officials attended the Basketball Australia NRDP Camp, held at the AIS last month in conjunction with the Australian Development Camp (ADC). Whilst the ADC showcases some of Australia’s best up-and-coming talent, the NRDP Camp provides an opportunity for some of Australia’s emerging elite officials to get some additional training and development in an elite setting.
We caught up with the two officials that attend the NRDP camp – Jordan Napper and Brendan Kantor, to see what they thought about the camp.
What was Day 1 of the camp like?
Jordan Napper: It was an awesome experience that definitely tested us. On Sunday we arrived from airport and went straight to AIS camp where we met all the officials and coaches from the other states. After lunch it was straight into training, as we broke down video clips of an NBL game that we had been provided with the day before.
We also had a tour of the AIS where we visited the gyms, pools, and athlete facilities.
Brendan Kantor: We had the opportunity to tour the campus with Rachel Tallent (one of our Olympians from the Rio Olympic Games) as our tour guide. Our video session on breaking down clips asked us to come up with strategies on how we may officiate the same situations differently. We also had the opportunity to watch a quarter of a game in the role of the referee coach and to provide critique for the referees on the game.
What was a typical day like?
Jordan Napper: Each morning we had to up for a 6:00am group run, which was then followed by a different recovery session – stretching and yoga were two of the ones we did. This was to get us up and moving, and to prepare us for the day ahead.
Who were some of the presenters at the camp?
Brendan Kantor: “Jessica Byrnes (Basketball WA Referee Development Manager) and Shahrad Shafaghi (WNBL referee from NSW) ran all of our sessions for the 4 days. Their wealth of experience was definitely valuable to my experience at the camp. Notable guest speakers we had were Bill Mildenhall – who went to numerous World Championships and Olympics as a referee and is now a member of the FIBA Technical Commission; Patrick Hunt – current President of the FIBA World Association of Basketball Coaches and the Chair of the FIBA Technical Commission; and Jan Stirling – previously coach of the Australian Opals and Adelaide’s WNBL team, and current Basketball Australia General Manager of High Performance. Each of these guest speakers were able to impart much of their wisdom in a very short amount of time and the communication skills of all three of these people were fantastic.”
What was the highlight of the camp?
Jordan Napper: “On both Tuesday and Wednesday we then got the opportunity to referee some trial games with the ADC athletes. Each crew of three got to referee a quarter of the game and we then had a debrief with the referee coaches who were at the National Referee Instructor course.”
What are your overall thoughts on the camp?
Brendan Kantor: “All in all, I had a great time and took on board so much new information that will help to improve my performance moving forward and hopefully I am able to effectively relay that new information onto those around me.”
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